Hero Day
by Thousandsmiles
Summary: Clint made a pained noise and then said into his comm. with an air of defeat: "Someone call Loki and find out if he's having a hero day." Or the one where Loki is a some time hero and helps The Avengers. AU. No slash.
1. Chapter 1

**So I hope you all enjoy this somewhat odd AU.**

 **Disclaimer: I do own The Avengers or Thor.**

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Clint slid across the ice on his back, arms and legs flung out. He finally came to a stop whilst his bow continued to slide across the ice and came to stop some fifteen feet away from him. He made a pained noise and then said into his comm. with an air of defeat.

"Someone call Loki and find out if he's having a hero day."

"You couldn't decide that 10 minutes ago birdbrain?" said Tony even as he applied his replusers to the villain of the week. He was making a dent in the villain but unfortunately the villain's minion swatted him away. Being that the minion was a huge, apparently indestructible beast, the hit wasn't an easy one.

Cap's shield distracted it from going after Tony and Hulk jumped it a second later. Natasha shot at their villain, going by the somewhat disappointing name of Brandon, but he put his electric shield and deflected her bullets.

Clint in the interim had retrieved his bow and shot one of his emp arrows at Brandon but Brandon simply shorted the emp mechanism before it even reached him. Normally on their own Brandon wouldn't be a problem but they were one short with Thor back in Asgard and the minion was busting them up.

It pulsed and flung Hulk away and charged Cap. Tony distracted it and then had to employ highly evasive maneuvers to get away.

"Hey Loki!" he said cheerfully a minute later, sounding very out of breath, "Are you having a hero day? There's an indestructible minion with your name on it!"

He was forced to dive out of the way and a moment later reported. "He cut the call guys. I have no idea what that means as per usual, but we probably shouldn't expect him."

"Figures," Clint grumbled.

Tony lost the minion when the Hulk retook its attention but Cap who had been going against Brandon had just been knocked down and was sporting some nasty electrical burns. Natasha covered him and Clint covered her, shooting arrows into the gaps left by her body but Brandon-the-villain, evaded a couple of his shoots with astonishing speed, deflected others and applied his glowing, electrical blade to the action of attacking Natasha. Cap was already struggling to his feet but was knocked back by Tony who'd been flung by the minion again before it returned its attention to the hulk who was just getting up from a blow from it.

Cap and Tony detangled themselves and Natasha dived out of the way from one of Brandon's strikes and twisted to avoid the other. Clint shot an arrow to prevent him from getting another at her and to give Natasha some breathing room.

Brandon twisted to look at him irritated and flung out a hand, electricity rolling down his arm and out his fingertips, lightning fast. Clint dived out of the way but found it wasn't necessary. Brandon's electrical attack slid harmlessly off of Loki's shield.

Brandon barely got time to be surprised by his appearance before Loki had flung several of his knives at him. Brandon put up his shield but Loki's knives flared green and pierced the barrier like it wasn't there.

Brandon batted away two of the knives but the third pierced his shoulder. Loki shot out a hand and green barrier hit Brandon sending flying. Iron Man swopped down to deal with him and Loki turned his attention to the minion.

He sprang into an opening left by Hulk and slashed leaving a nasty gash on the minion before it pulsed again and flung them both back. Loki caught himself midair, shimmered and disappeared. A second later the minion was being flung back. Loki appeared on the ground where he apparently done something to the minion. He darted forward lighting fast after the creature and jammed a hand in the would he had created earlier. A moment of concentration and then the armor of the creature was blown off.

Loki staggered away, a little drain from the expenditure of power and Hulk hit the defenseless minion.

Steve, Tony and Natasha between had managed to disabled Brandon's tech and Barton took the final shot. It was a sedative arrow and he aimed for the same spot that Loki's knife had gone in.

Seconds later Brandon's eyes rolled back and he fell in an ungainly heap on the floor.

When they checked the minion, it was well and truly dead, and Hulk was covered in what they supposed to be its innards. Natasha wrinkled her nose in disgust and Clint followed her. It really was disgusting, especially since it didn't even appear remotely normal.

"So, the million-dollar question," said Tony, "Did Brandon make that or is it an alien?"

"It is an alien," Loki replied, "I expect a million dollars on my account Stark."

"Uh, no," said Tony, "You're still on community service."

Loki glared but said nothing.

"If it is an alien," said Natasha, "Where did he get it?"

"A sensible question, Lady Romanov," said Loki, "The answering of which I suspect will occupy your time now."

"Do you have any plans?" Cap asked him.

Loki tilted his head. "Not at present, why?"

"Come back with us," said Steve looking at Clint as he spoke, lifting an eyebrow.

Clint contemplated and then gave a grudging nod. Loki stood still for a few moments whilst he analyzed everything there possibly was to analyze about the situation. After a moment, he shrugged gracefully.

"Very well," he said.

"Good," said Steve and Hulk began to shrink back into Bruce.

Natasha ran over to the quinjet to retrieve the shock blanket they kept on hand for Bruce. Clint stung his bow on his person and went over to keel next to Bruce because for some reason he didn't spook him as much as the others did when he first awakened.

By the time Bruce stirred and groaned, Natasha was back with the blanket which Clint threw over him and then helped him to sit up. When he was ready Clint and Nat helped him to totter into the quinjet. Tony and Steve wrestled in Brandon and strapped him down inside the jet. When that was done, Tony took his seat but Steve turned to Loki who was still standing outside.

"Are you coming with us on the quinjet?"

After a moment, Loki gave a hesitant nod and walked into the quinjet and took a seat, his armor shimmering and disappearing.

Clint scrambled into the pilot's seat with Natasha settling in next to him and then they were off, heading back to New York toting their villain of the week and their sometime villain.

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 _ **Review please!**_

 _ **Also have a great day! :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers.**

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Loki slept throughout their drop-off of Brandon at SHIELD which was a good thing since Fury was still oblivious about Loki helping them on occasion. He didn't even move when the quinjet had landed at the tower until Clint kicked him in the ankle as he was leaving the jet.

"I am not asleep," Loki said placidly.

"Then get up," said Clint.

"Clint," said Cap warningly.

"What?" said Clint, "It's not like it hurts him and if I wasn't wearing steel- toed boots it would hurt me."

Cap gave him a look.

"Oh don't censure him captain," said Loki sitting up, "He is right in that it doesn't hurt me and I won't grudge him a little revenge."

Cap sighed and decided to let it go. Clint followed him into the tower and Loki calmly followed him inside. Clint found Pepper waiting for them like she usually did whenever she could.

She smiled when she saw him and Clint said, "Hey Pepper."

"Hi, Clint," she said, "Glad to see you all back in one piece."

"Lady Pepper," said Loki smoothly from behind Clint. He waited patiently for her to finish jumping in surprise before sweeping her a bow.

"Loki!" she said in surprise. "You're here then."

"Yes," he said, "For some time I believe, while we figure out a rather intriguing problem."

"I see," she said, "Well you can have the same guest room as the last time."

"You have my thanks," he told her. She nodded at him and then went over to Tony to kiss him goodbye, saying she had to get back to the office. Tony kissed her and escorted her to the elevator.

He came back in a moment and said, "If you want Loki, Thor left some of his Asgardian alcohol here."

"Best save it for when I actually need it then," said Loki dismissively and reached for one of Tony's bottles instead.

"Anyone else want a drink?" Tony asked.

"Only if it has Gatorade on the bottle," said Bruce looking terribly sleepy but equally determined to stay awake.

"Seriously," said Clint, "Does no one else like lucozade?"

"Lucozade is pointless," said Natasha.

"Monster is pointless," Clint said.

"What?" said Loki.

"Wait," said Tony, "No one told you there was a drink called Monster? How are you going to do your villain act if you don't know?"

Loki glared at him and Steve sighed. Clint laughed because for some reason that made him feel better. He was really tired.

Tony fetched a Gatorade for Bruce who started chugging it as he ambled away to his floor to take a shower. He also brought over a Monster for Loki and mixed it in with the alcohol.

"Alright," said Steve, "Everyone take an hour to shower and deal with injuries. We'll reconvene here."

The others and Clint nodded and dispersed back to their rooms.

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An hour later everyone save Loki was back, freshly showered and sporting bandages and band aids. Loki came in a moment later dressed in a slim black shirt and black jeans. He grabbed a cushion of the couch, threw it on the floor and sat down on it, leaning back on the couch. It was his customary spot when he wasn't on the couch itself, and on occasion even allowed Natasha to card her fingers through his obnoxiously soft locks.

Being that it was Natasha, Clint had no doubt that it was some sort of threat but Loki didn't seem to bother about it. Bruce was lying sleepily in the other couch, drinking yet another Gatorade while Tony ordered pizza for all of them.

Natasha was sitting on the same couch that Loki was leaning on and Steve was in the armchair. Clint was perched on one of the arms of Steve's chair and Tony had grabbed one of the bar stools and sat spinning unconsciously on it.

"So," said Steve, "Either Brandon found an interdimensional creature all on his own or someone gave it to him. The first scenario isn't nearly as worrying as the second."

"I do not think he found the creature all on his own, Captain," Loki interjected. "It takes considerable power to rip spaces in dimensions and Brandon clearly does not have that power."

"Alright then," said Tony, "So someone gave Brandon an interdimensional creature."

"Great," said Clint, "It's a free villain giveaway."

"Maybe they had a lotto," Tony mused.

"Focus," said Cap sighing. "Do we know anyone with the ability to rip interdimensional spaces?"

"Doom," said Clint.

"Hydra," said Natasha. "Maybe Red Room."

"AIM?" asked Bruce but Tony pshawed that idea.

"Doom really is the best bet," said Clint, "But he doesn't really let people play with his toys."

"Hydra does," said Steve, wearily.

"Could be a mutant," Natasha offered, "Or an inhuman."

"Or an enhanced," Clint rejoined.

"Which widens our field of search to the point where it's useless," Tony said. "Loki, do you have a frequency for interdimensional rips in space? I'm using the one from New York but I'm gonna guess the one that brought in Brandon's minion was smaller."

"Yes," said Loki, "Considerably smaller. With a lot less power output that that of New York. That was opened using the tesseract. I can also open interdimensional spaces on my own but for myself. Bringing something that large through will take more power."

"So give me a range," said Tony, tapping away at his Starkpad.

Loki went over to him and the two of them conferred for a moment. Bruce struggled to get up and go over but gave up after two failed tries and just wallowed in the couch trying to pick up on what they were saying.

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Steve, Natasha and Clint shared looks and then sighed and waited for the geniuses to figure their stuff out. Clint really missed Thor; a three-way silent conversation wasn't nearly as fun as a four-way silent conversation. It didn't hurt that Thor was a sassy bastard under all that polite manners.

While Tony, Loki and on occasion Bruce prattled on about the dimensions, Cap, Clint and Tasha were running down the practical problems.

 _Housing,_ Clint suggested with a tap of his foot. _You have to put that minion somewhere, not to mention a workshop to build Brandon's tech._

 _Power,_ Natasha suggested flickering her eyes to the lights overhead.

Steve agreed with a tilt of his jaw. His eyes flicked from the lights to Natasha. _Can you track the power-draw?_

Clint titled the pizza slice in his hand. _Food? Would minion need to eat?_

Steve took a bite of his pizza. _If it does, it'll have needed a lot of food._

Natasha tilted her head approvingly. _We can track that too._

Clint flicked his eyes to Tony's watch and back to the others, twice. _Whoever had minion before might have had to buy food for him too?_

 _If he eats,_ Steve reminded him, tilting his head the other way.

 _If he eats,_ Clint agreed.

 _Transport_? Natasha asked, running a finger along the couch arm.

Clint and Steve both frowned contemplating. There had been no sign that Brandon's base was in the Artic so he must have transported the minion, not to mention himself, somehow.

Clint shifted and stretched. _Lots of work_. He dropped his arms. _Underground contacts._

Natasha nodded _. Yes._

"Am I the only one who gets freaked out when they do that?" asked Bruce, breaking into the conversation.

"I just think of it as being able to mentally access wifi," Tony said at the same time that Loki said:

"Yes."

Tony and Bruce looked at him. He shrugged and said, "They are battle companions. It is not strange."

Tony and Bruce looked at each and shrugged and returned back to their work.

'Ahh,' thought Clint, "So that's where Thor got so much practice in silent conversation.' His eyes met the other two who both gave him silent affirmatives of his thoughts and then they scrambled for the Starkpads to start chasing down their theories.

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 _ **Review please! Review Junkie writer requires her daily fix!**_

 _ **Have a night day/night!**_


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